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Clanlands
The Clanlands are the barbarous northern regions of the continent, inhabited only by savages and monsters. While some claim that the tribes of the north are in fact deeply civilized, no true person of taste would recognise even a tenth part of true civilization in the Clans of the North. Generally speaking, the Clans of the North engage in a hunter-gatherer existence, although they have constructed several medium-to-large towns. Their capital is the vast, ancient tower-fortress city of Dunedin While "the Clanlands" can refer to the entire vast expanse of the northern wastes, it is also used more specifically to refer to the human civilization that occupies a large portion of the wastes, where it borders on Raven and Tomsim History The remains of human settlements have been found in all regions of the Clanlands and many of them have been conclusively dated to either at the time of or just before the Dawn War. Dunedin itself is harder to date - some evidence suggests that it was ancient beyond reckoning even when humans first occupied it during the Dawn War. After the Dawn War, the Clanlands were an area of expansive grasslands and fertile valleys, and humanity prospered there, living in truce with the orcs of the northwestern mountains. However, over the centuries humans spread out across the southern lands, establishing cities and countries outside of the Clanlands. This proved wise when the climate turmoil that followed the Harrowing dropped the Clanlands into an ice age. Winter snows no longer melted, and within a century the once-fertile Clanlands was a barren, desolate waste as glaciers marched over the ruins of villages to the sea. Many fled to Dunedin, where ancient magics protected them from the cold and the ice storms that ravaged the countryside. When it became clear that the ice was here to stay, most of these refugees carried on south, to Raven and Tomsim and the newly-forming Merrovian Empire. Those who chose to stay were the sturdy, independent homesteaders that became the Clans of the North. Geography The Clanlands can be roughly divided into three major areas - the plains of the central belt, the mountains of the northwest and the mountains of the east. Central Plains The Central Plains are what remains of the grasslands and valleys of the pre-Harrowing Clanlands. While far from anything a southerner would call flat, the plains are much more hospitable than the mountain ranges and are home to the majority of settlers. Small human villages dot the plains, either on one of the few liquid rivers or marking the opening of a mine or other form of industry. Northwest Mountains The northwest mountains are the ancestral home of the orcs, where they have lived in unquestioned mastery for at least three thousand years. They call the mountains Grummheim, meaning the Home of Grummsh, and none may set foot upon the mountains without the permission of the orc kings. These steep-sided, viciously guarded mountains are therefore mysterious to outsiders. Eastern Mountains The eastern mountains are inhabited by a range of creatures, including gnolls and goblins, and the mountains themselves are warrened throughout by dwarves, gnomes and the northern drow, sometimes called the Svartalfs. Most of these races live in peace, or more accurately in a state of cold war. The occasional flash of unspeakable violence is rarely noted by the outside world. Economy The economy of the Clanlands is built upon three pillars - mining, hunting and mercenaries. The vast mines of the north provide some of the world's richest sources of gold and silver, as well as more practical metals such as iron, tin and copper. While Clanlander steel is hardly the finest, it is produced in such quantity as to make it freely available to the warriors of the north. Taxation Taxation is strictly enforced within Dunedin, but is generally delegated to individual Clans to handle. Each Clan must pay an annual tribute to the Chief of Clan Chiefs which is based on the number of war-ready fighters in his Clan, generally called "head money". While some clan chiefs have tried to understate their warrior count, most would consider such actions dishonourable and take pride in reporting their growth and achievements. Demographics Humans make up the majority of Clanland inhabitants of the central plains, and nobody is prepared to speculate as to the exact racial makeup of the eastern range. It can be assumed that orcs, along with their allies the hobgoblins, bugbears and winter wolves, are the principal ethnic grouping in Grummheim. Religion See main article Northern pantheon The Northern Pantheon is notable in being completely different from that of other human cultures. Theologians have speculated that the centuries of isolation immediately prior to the Harrowing may have led to a divergent interpretion of the widely-accepted pantheon, and have noted parallels or similarities between the northern gods and those worshipped elsewhere. However, most Clanlanders are not religiously exclusionary, and the worship of foreign gods is generally permitted provided that no direct disrespect is offered to their own pantheon. Clanlander clerics tend to worship either the entire pantheon or specific subgroups, rather than being devoted to a single deity as is common in the south. Politics and Government To understand the politics of the Clandland requires first a comprehension of the clan structure. There are currently eighty-five clans sworn to the Chief of Clan Chiefs, and these clans are regarded as "great" clans. However, each great clan will have several smaller clans that it holds in fief, and the number of these smaller clans is much harder to determine. However, only great clans are permitted to send a representative to the Clan Council, and only a great clan chief is eligible to be Chief of Clan Chiefs. The Clan Council is responsible for electing the Chief of Clan Chiefs, a title that is then held for life, unless the Chief of Clan Chiefs choses to renounce the title or he is defeated in horgamut. The Chief of Clan Chiefs must be a clan chief in his own right, and every clan has its own methods for selecting a leader. The Clan Council is both a legislative body and the court of last resort - any clan member may appeal the judgement of a clan chief to the Council is permitted to refuse to hear the appeal. Typically the Council will send a Raadjaeger, an officer of the court, to investigate the matter and will only hear the appeal on his recommendation. Military The military might of the Clanlands is based on the clan structure. Each great clan is required to send a proportion of its warriors to Dunedin to form the primary military grouping of the Clanlands, a shock infantry force typically equipped with light armour and heavy weapons. Skirmishers and archers are not unknown in the Clanlands, but they are treated with less respect than the 'berserkers' that make up the majority of the infantry force. However, each clan retains all its remaining warriors in its ancestral lands and they are typically maintained as a security force against orc bandits and raiders. However, the deployment of these clan forces against other clans to claim land or treasure, or to redress insults, is not unknown. Culture Clanlander culture is far more complex and sophisticated than is generally appreciated by outside sources. While their written works are typically short and to the point, the Clanlander oral tradition dates back thousands of years. Bards in the region that have trained in this art are called "skalds" and are accorded the highest respect. While their art is usually simplistic in design, the Clanlander focus on stone-carving suits them well in an environment where less sturdy works are unlikely to survive the elements. Category:Countries